I must be honest, I was apprehensive when George Couros encouraged us all—primary teachers and up, to use Twitter. I myself did not have a Twitter account, nor did I think that it would be an appropriate tool to use in my classroom. I was mistaken. I have always been keen to use technology in my Grade 1 classroom, and have used various forms of it throughout my career—from creating digital portfolios, claymation, movies, readers theatre, interactive games, etc… however, I had never thought about getting my students to Tweet. After our Innovative Teaching day, I left feeling refreshed and eager to try something new. I have started to talk with my students and their families about what Tweeting would look like in our class and have received positive feedback, thoughts, and ideas from them. I hope to partner with an older grade to get us started (probably more for me than my kiddies!) and will progressively build on that.
​A colleague and I were also inspired by a video that we saw at the PD and have spoken about creating a similar type of video with our own students, teaming grade 1s with grade 5/6s.
​In my classroom, we are currently working on a cultural identity project which has my students connecting with family here and in the Philippines and India. We are using our families as references and translators to create a multi-lingual book to help us and others recognize and be proud/positive about who we are, our identity, language, and culture. Students have used digital cameras, email, videos, journals, and multimedia to help us build and create this on-going project.
​Now, I am still new to Twitter and have to remind myself to use it, and when I do use it I spend way more time than I really should thinking about what and how to say something, but I am no longer weary of it and can see what the advantages are to using it.

Amanda Borton

Grade 1 Teacher

Tyndall Park Community School